The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints News Archives

Bryant Giles, a 2007 graduate of McKinney North High School, reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on May 14 for instruction as part of a two-year Spanish-speaking mission to Riverside, ...

A legal deal to reunite more than 400 children from a Texas polygamist community with their parents could be delayed for days after a judge imposed a last-minute condition on Friday.

Sadie Klein and Ariel Reda of Wellington enjoy a dance. More than 100 high school youths age 16 and older enjoyed the second annual "Mormon Prom" sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints .

NEW YORK : In a May 6 story about JetBlue founder David Neeleman, The Associated Press erroneously reported that he was born in Brazil while his father was a missionary there for the Church of Jesus Christ of ...

In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children ...

The worldwide leader of the Mormon church made a surprise visit to Brampton on Sunday.

Here's a way to break the ice when President Bush meets with Mormon church leaders: talk about Air Force One.

A support group for gay Mormons is urging church leaders to stay on the sidelines after the California Supreme Court said same-sex marriage there is legal.

Seeking testimony about underage marriage, Child Protective Services was preparing to question at least eight girls seized from a polygamist sect's ranch, but a last-minute agreement in a custody hearing ...

Police and school officials are investigating what they believe started as a student prank but later degenerated into a hate crime.

Are the beliefs of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the polygamous sect that the state of Texas has also accused of child abuse, sufficient grounds for removing all the children from the group's compound in Eldorado, Texas?

The answer now lies in the hands of the Texas Supreme Court, and how it rules will help resolve a major church-state clash that began when Texas officials last month took some 460 minors from the sect's Yearning for Zion ranch after receiving phone calls from an alleged underage spouse complaining of physical abuse. That complaint, it turns out, was almost certainly a hoax - the first in a series of bad news for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS).

By Lucia de Vernai Its not easy being Mormon. No cursing, no premarital sex, no Mountain Dew.

There is insufficient evidence to say former LDS Church President Brigham Young ordered the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and ample evidence that says he did not, according to the church's assistant historian.

David Biscobing , Tribune The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will build another new temple in Arizona, this one in Phoenix, President Thomas S. Monson announced Friday.

May 24, 2008 at 11:20 am Filed under Child Support & Custody , NewsLog , North America An appeals court in Texas has ruled that Texas Child Protective Services should not have taken the children from the ...

The Vatican's recent ban on Mormon microfilming and digitizing of Catholic parish records out of concern they will be used for the LDS practice of baptizing the dead may have a wide-ranging and chilling effect ...

This week's question: Does your faith have any bearing on your career? How did your faith interact with your professional life to get you where you are now? Or are the two spheres pretty separate for you? It ...

They say it takes a village to raise a child -- and yesterday it was an entire town that gathered to lay their three daughters to rest.

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints mothers smile after a bystander told them the news of a court ruling in their favor.

The Mormon church says President Bush will meet with its leaders during a trip to Utah next week.

The parents of the children in state custody after a raid at a polygamist sect's ranch came to a courthouse asking one question: How do we get back our children? They left complaining that Texas child welfare ...

Senate budget writers said Tuesday that Texas shouldn't expect more than 300 attorneys who volunteered to represent children removed from a polygamist ranch to continue working for free - even if paying them ...

Texas Child Protective Services officials acknowledged Tuesday the agency has isolated the children it removed from a polygamist community from any mention of the group's spiritual leader, Warren Jeffs, who was ...

“Most parishes can't or don't answer letters because they are understaffed and their highest priority is the living (as it should be)”

The Vatican's recent ban on Mormon microfilming and digitizing of Catholic parish records out of concern they will be used for the LDS practice of baptizing the dead may have a wide-ranging and chilling effect ... via ScrippsNews

The more than 400 children, from newborns to teens, forced from a polygamist sect's sprawling ranch during a raid six weeks ago and into foster care have been treated as a single group of abused and at-risk ... via Journal Gazette

“With the price of fuel these days, this is a tremendous investment, but it's something our foundation is very adamant that we get involved in”

Humanitarian aid has had a difficult time reaching more than a million homeless people Myanmar after the devastating cyclone that ripped through the small country. via KTVX

“The crime doesn't fit the statute.”

Lawyers for Warren Jeffs asked an Arizona judge Friday to drop incest charges against the imprisoned polygamist leader. via KRISTV.COM Corpus Christi

Carolyn Jessop fears for her life and the survival of her eight children. "Ugly realities" highlight her first-person account of a life inside a religious cult known as the Fundamentalist of Jesus Christ of ... via The South Mississippi Sun Herald

“On its face, it seems like a high number”

Last month's raid of a West Texas polygamist sect's ranch and the removal of the more than 460 children living there has cost the state at least $10 million in sheltering and legal costs, according to estimates ... via Houston Chronicle

“At this point, since they're not breaking any laws, we're just keeping track of what they're doing”

Members of a polygamous sect have been quietly buying up property in Colorado's Custer and Fremont counties and settling in, according to the Custer County sheriff. via ScrippsNews

Steady flow of supporters raise money for water charity Participants gather at Penrose for the walk. via Falmouth Packet

“Only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized.”

Shortly after word came Thursday that the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on gay marriage in that state, the LDS Church released the following statement: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ... via Deseret News

“We have good cause to believe theres something relevant to what were doing up here”

In just five years, the West Texas polygamist sect transformed 1,700 acres of scrubland purchased for $700,000 into a bustling ranch with a blazing-white limestone temple, sprawling three-story log cabins, ... via My Mother Lode

“They recognize the emptiness and the loneliness and the concern. But they're also solid in their belief that there is life after this life.”

A Farmington woman collapsed while jogging and died Saturday near Birmingham, England, where she was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. via Deseret Morning News

I am outraged to learn that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to seek personal information of deceased individuals from the archives of other faiths and government agencies in order to ... via Salt Lake Tribune

“Nobody on the jury will have read this book”

Child of polygamy sect hopes book helps others leave Months after helping to send Warren S. Jeffs to prison, Elissa Wall is telling her story in a book she hopes will lead women and girls to leave his ... via ScrippsNews

“I personally feel, and our government feels, that it would be inappropriate to do nothing.”

Fluorescent lights cast a yellow-green pall on the posted student artwork. Children's voices recite lessons behind closed doors. via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“This content was removed at the request of copyright agent B. S. Broadbent of the Intellectual Property Division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

The Wikimedia Foundation has received a copyright infringement claim from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. via Men's News Daily

“Our thoughts and prayers are with them, their family and friends at this difficult time”

A Mormon missionary was killed in a car crash in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday morning. via Kutv.com

“We didn't have documentation. The other thing, too, frankly, is the information we got ... changed over time”

Nancy and James Dockstater, left, and Lorene and Rulon Keate, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who had their children taken from the YFZ Ranch in Texas, talk with NBC ... via Buffalo News

“That vast Sports Arena burst into cries and wails of heartsick mothers and screams of terrified children as a vast cortege of attendants swarmed the arena, tearing screaming children from their weeping mothers and physically carrying them away”

An elder of a polygamist sect has sent a letter to the White House decrying what he calls "terrorist acts" that have separated the sect's children from their parents. via CNN

For Ronald McClain, interest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a gradual process. via Deseret Morning News

“The investigation has focused solely on that, and nothing more.”

Emptiness echoes off of this polygamist community's once-lush lawns, now parched and brown. via Denton Record-Chronicle

“We're disappointed to see it go to an every-other-year basis, but we're looking forward to 2009”

For the first time in more than 25 years, the show won't go on this summer in the rural northern Utah town of Clarkston, population 688. via Salt Lake Tribune

LDS Church leaders approved funds to purchase large quantities of tarps, blankets, basic food, medical equipment and especially clean drinking water for those affected by the recent cyclone in Myanmar, church ... via Salt Lake Tribune

A federal prosecutor has been assigned to look for ways to help tackle problems associated with polygamy in Western states, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. via Kutv.com

A letter from the Vatican to all Catholic bishops asked them not to allow The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to microfilm parish registers. via KSL / Local / Local Stories

THE HERALD BULLETIN ANDERSON, Ind. - The raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas, that liberated 400 children from a life of abuse a few weeks ago was just the latest in a sorry history of ... via Goshen News, Goshen, IN

“It's unfortunate that a life was lost, but the public, employees, judges and others in (the) courthouse were properly protected”

A man who was supposed to be returning divorce papers at a courthouse pulled out a gun there instead Wednesday, opening fire in the lobby before two bailiffs fatally shot him.

Several people were in the lobby at the time, but only one of the bailiffs, who was shot in the shoulder, was injured. He was treated and released from a hospital.

Glen Lee Powell, 30, entered the courthouse shortly after 1 p.m. and approached a security checkpoint wearing a backpack. A deputy ordered him to remove the backpack and place it on a conveyor belt, but instead he threw it on the ground and opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun, Pinellas County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said. Read more

The Catholic News Service has published an article about new Vatican orders to not cooperate with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the microfilming of records. via Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

The judge who last month ordered 463 children from a polygamist sect into state custody says the state attorney general should handle any criminal cases that may arise from an April raid on the sect's ranch. via KRISTV.COM Corpus Christi

“I want it to be smaller. I want them to reconfigure the steeple. If they're gonna have a steeple, perhaps they can make it smaller”

Churches are usually something people want in their neighborhood, but some Northwest D.C. neighbors want one congregation to stay away over traffic fears. via NewsChannel 8

In the secretive, illegal world of American polygamy, life has been good to 67-year-old Wendell Loy Nielsen of Eldorado, Texas. via CNN

“It's already been determined that of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 currently in state custody, 29 have children and two are pregnant. By definition, that's 31 counts of statutory rape.”

The First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom serves as the very cornerstone of American liberty. via Free Republic

“It would really be premature for us to say anything”

The Vatican has ordered Catholic dioceses worldwide to withhold member registries from Mormons who perform posthumous baptisms. via MyFox St. Louis

“Our task is great in this world”

Thousands of women filled most of the Brigham Young University Marriott Center on Friday morning to hear from Sister Julie B. Beck, general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of ... via Deseret News

“They are not concerned about citizenship They just walk across on a dirt road”

But the church's days of splendid isolation and impenetrable secrecy - only the top fringe of the temple's white limestone walls visible from a distant rural road at the edge of the 1,700-acre spread - are ... via Globe and Mail

“I think that's just one more piece of evidence that the whole basis on which this raid was premised was unfounded and was inadequately checked out, to the formulation of what basically amounted to an army that went in there and took their children”

An arrest warrant has been dropped for a man thought to be the husband of a teenage girl whose report of abuse triggered a raid on a polygamous sect's Texas compound, authorities said Friday.

A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman would not say why the warrant was dropped for Dale E. Barlow, 50, who lives in Colorado City, Ariz. Barlow has denied knowing the 16-year-old girl who called a crisis center.

The girl reported that she was a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that she was beaten and raped at the sect's Eldorado ranch. Read more

“They have done what we have been trying to get Utah and Arizona do for a 100 years and that is protect children”

When a renegade Mormon sect was looking for a quiet place to live out its polygamous beliefs, it made a Texas-sized mistake when it picked this state to move to. via MSNBC